Improvement in dies for making axle-boxes



W. S. WARD.

Dies for Making Axle Boxes.

N0.I55,I28.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. WARD, OF PLANTSVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO H. D. SMITH &00., OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN DIES FOR MAKING AXLE-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,128, datedSeptember 15,1874; application filed March 5, 1874.

. the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon,to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which saiddrawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a side view of the box complete; Figs. 2, 3, and 4, differentstages in central section; and in Figs. 5 and 6, vertical centralsections of dies for forming the box.

This invention relates to the manufacture of axle-boxes from wroughtmetal.

By the several processes under which it has been attempted to make thisclass of boxes, the uncertainty of making perfect work, the complicationof processes, and the consequent expense make these boxes of so highcost as to make them impracticable for anything except the best gradesof work.

The object of this invention is to produce a wrought-metal box at sosmall a cost that it may compete with the common cast-metal box; and itconsists in the dies, constructed as hereinafter described, whereby thebox is formed from wrought-metal tubing, the said dies upsetting one endof such tube to form the collar or neck of the box.

I take wrought-metal tubing of a little less internal diameter than thediameter of the finished box to be produced, and out therefrom asection, A, Fig. 2, in length to give sufiicient metal to form the neckand box complete. This section I place in a die, B, the internaldiameter of which corresponds to the external diameter of the tubingfrom the bottom up to the upper portion of the die, where it isenlarged, so as to form substantially a shoulder, as at a. The upper endof the tube is heated before placing it in the die;

then a follower, C, which substantially fills the upper end of the die,and is formed with a shoulder, at, below which the follower iscontracted, so as to enter the open end of the tube, is forced down ontothe open end of the tube, upsetting and spreading that end of the tubebetween the shoulder a of the die and the shoulder d of the follower. Inthis operation a fin is liable to be forced up between the side of thedie and follower, which would so wedge the follower as to make itdifficult to withdraw. To prevent this, I prefer to apply a collar tothe follower, the lower end of the collar forming the shoulder d. Thiscollar is fitted to the follower, so that it'will be held to thefollower with sufficient force to prevent its displacement in themovement of the follower, but will allow the follower to rise from it ifthe fin of metal is sufficient to so wedge the collar as to overcome theforce which holds the collar to the follower. In such case the collarwill be thrown from the die with the box to be again placed on thefollower.

Different lengths of collars may be employed, corresponding to diflerentdepths of necks.

After this portion of the process the blank is removed, it then being inthe form shown in Fig. 3. This blank is then placed in a second die, D,which is of the form of the exterior of the completed box, with grooves,as denoted at f in broken lines, to form the fins h at the neck.

The follower E is shaped to fill the upper end of the die, preferablyfitted with a loose collar, 1), as described, for the follower C, itslower end, below the collar 11, corresponding to the interior of theneck or collar of the box. This is forced or struck down upon the blankto upset the metal into the completed form of the box, and thuscompleted, as in Figs. 4' and 6, the box is removed from the die, thento be treated in like manner as castmetal boxes.

It is advisable, for the easy removal of the box from the die, to placea slide, F, below the die, which may be forced up against the end of thebox, as seen in Figs. 5 and 6, to raise the box from the die.

I have described the process as performed at two operations; but thismay be done in a single operation, employing only what I have I claim asmy invention The dies constructed as herein described, the followerentering and filling the mouth of the die, and with or without the slideF, substantially as specified.

WILLIAM S. WARD.

Witnesses:

SIMEoN H. NORTON, D. H. HULL.

